holeinone:
When the Steelers win, it’s always all about Big Ben. But when they lose, it’s always all about someone else…

Deb:
You actually believe that one position was the sole reason the Steelers took 26 years to win another Super Bowl?
C’mon.
Santa Clause?
Easter Bunny?
Tooth Fairy?
Think playing the 1995 dynastic Dallas Cowboys might’ve been just a tad bigger challenge than playing the 2005 Seahawks and the ’08 Cardinals?
————————————–
1994 – Neil O’Donnell cannot finish a drive from the 3 yard line vs. an inferior Chargers team
1997 – Kordell gives the Broncos the Super Bowl with 2 INTs in the redzone
2001 – Kordell throws 3 INTs and the Steelers give 2 Special Teams scores to Patriots.

Roethlisberger arrives – and his first loss as a starter was to a 14-2 Patriots team that perhaps was the most balanced offense/defense and best Patriot team of the decade (2007 included).

Immediately after that, 2 Super Bowls in 4 years….

Are you going to hold the 85 Bears win in less regard for beating a lame Patriots team instead of the Marino led Dolphins?

Or Peyton Manning’s lone Super Bowl vs. the Rex Grossman led Bears?

Do you think Roethlisberger would have been as awful as O’Donnell was vs. that Cowboys team that was outplayed save for two perfect passes to Larry Brown?

Very weak and very jealous.

The big question to me is this (assuming turnovers stop) – can Ben get back to playing MVP ball quick enough to go on a 6-game run?

The lack of depth at DB can be blamed on, if anyone, the personnel department.

Most of these losses have been caused by the self-proclaimed “Young Money Crew” of Mike Wallace, Antonio Brown, and Emmanuel Sanders.

At the very least they are to blame for the losses in Oakland and Dallas. They should be called the “Sir Drops & Fumbles A lot Crew”

Every time they commit a turnover it is at the most critical point of the game and always results in a shift of momentum.

The dropped passes are also a huge problem, but more recently the turnovers are my primary beef.

We’ve had this conversation before. No, I don’t think Ben is star-kissed. I don’t think he’s Brady. I don’t even think he’s all he could be if he worked a little harder. But we had great defenses before, great running games, great receivers, great coaches, and far better offensive lines. What we didn’t have was the team leader who was able to extend plays, get the ball down the field (to players wearing Steelers unis, not Cowboys unis if we’re referring to SBXXX), the guy who was able to make the rest of the team believe they could win. Ben was the missing ingredient.

And Deb is 100% correct, the Steelers didn’t win a Super Bowl since Bradshaw until Ben arrived. While he didn’t have powerful stats in the SB’s, they wouldn’t have reached the SB’s without him, and IMHO he should have been MVP when they beat the Cardinals, taking them down the field at the end as time was running out for the win. It takes a winner to do that, and Ben did it flawlessly when everything was on the line in the biggest game. Anddon’t forget, Holmes dropped a game winning TD Ben threw him the play before he caught the game winner. And Holmes gets the MVP. SMH.

Deb:
You actually believe that one position was the sole reason the Steelers took 26 years to win another Super Bowl?
C’mon.
Santa Clause?
Easter Bunny?
Tooth Fairy?
Think playing the 1995 dynastic Dallas Cowboys might’ve been just a tad bigger challenge than playing the 2005 Seahawks and the ’08 Cardinals?

Amen. I really don’t want my offense scoring more than 25 points. Shoot-outs aren’t my thing. I’d rather watch a 9-6 defensive brawl. The only thing that matters to me is who’s in the W column when the game is over. For 26 years without Ben, we watched Super Bowls that ended with someone other than Pittsburgh in the W column. With him, we’ve twice watched our team hoist the Lombardi. Anyone who doesn’t understand that he was the differencemaker between not winning a championship and winning a championship wasn’t paying attention during those 26 years.

Yes, Ben is very good in many respects, but he cannot and should not be expected to be THE WHOLE OFFENSE. Please make some sense.

But, much like the wide receivers, Haley doesn’t catch the ball. And, much like the running backs, Haley doesn’t hold the ball high and tight to keep from fumbling. Haley isn’t an offensive lineman, play corner back, play safety, or rush the passer.

At least Bruce Arians isn’t doing anything in his retirement…